The invention is an improvement of a throwing target used in recreation games in which players throw objects at a target. The conception of the claimed invention occurred during a moment in which the inventor experienced a problem inherent in the use of a target for a throwing game. While the invention disclosed herein may be realized in a variation that uses another throwing target, the invention, at its initial conception, contemplated modification of the throwing target used in the game referred-to as “Cornhole.” Hereafter, it is written as merely cornhole.
The target for playing cornhole is generally constructed from five parts. Four are straight lengths of constant section material forming a frame, and the fifth is a panel that lies atop the frame. Toward one end of the face, there is a hole for receiving a thrown object. To increase the view factor to the hole, the target face is inclined upward from the ground at the end at which the hole is located. Specific to cornhole, the thrown object is generally expected to be a bean bag, a pouch containing free media that fills the bag but does not so entirely fill it that the bag loses the ability to deform when it strikes a surface.
A bean bag does not deform and then resiliently recoil to an uncompressed shape. This gives it the general ability to engage a surface, without bouncing away from the surface. The ability to deform and remain in contact with a surface allows a bean bag striking the target face to generally slide across the surface, rather than roll. Use of a bean bag therefore allows for the game of cornhole to be free of impact deflection and instead include friction as a variable in achieving the task of delivering a thrown object into a target hole. Locating the target's hole closer to the inclined end, furthest from the bag-thrower, allows for most of the rest of the board to be used as a runway of greater area than the hole, which can compensate for errors in angle of trajectory and for distance of the thrown to make use of the greater area of the rest of the board to allow the excess velocity to keep the bag on the surface and occasionally carry the bag into the hole.
It is not uncommon for points to be allocated for bags which strike the target face and remain on the surface, in lieu of actually passing through the hole. Thrown too fast, a bean bag may skip-over the hole. Thrown too slowly or at too steep a trajectory, a bean bag may come to land on the target but not manage to slide up the face into the hole, for its relative lack of horizontal component of its velocity. However, a steep trajectory does increase the odds of a bean bag remaining upon the target surface, because of the friction and force-absorbing deformation of the bag preventing the smaller horizontal component from carrying the bag off of the surface.
Cornhole, because of its simple and generally affordable target assembly cost, and commonly expected proportions of gameplay, has become very popular. A large portion of the public can build a conforming board, and for minimal financial burden. As a result, individuals of a larger proportion of the public, stumbling upon a game of cornhole, is more likely to have played the game on a similar target, and wish to join-in, because of the greater odds of having accumulated skill from having played on another occasion, in a different location, with a different group of people. The regulation of proportions and their selection in order to enable use of simplest materials therefore fosters popularity.
The lack of additional equipment and moderate distance of the field necessary for gameplay lends itself to outdoor leisure events and social gathering. Two common settings for cornhole are beaches and parking lots at sporting events in which fans are engaging in the generally-pre-game social gathering practice known as “tailgating.” Someone “tailgaters” may bring food for others, some may bring drink, others games, and others may be expected to bring chairs, in order for such a group to share in all of these benefits during the event. The inventor conceived of the present invention when attending a tailgating event, to which the inventor was carrying a target for cornhole from a significant distance. He was burdened with both carrying a cornhole game target and folding chairs, so that people not playing the game could sit, as well also other items to be used at the event, but which themselves were not pertinent to playing cornhole.
The game of cornhole is played standing up, so those participating in gameplay do not require a chair. However, between games, or after game play has ceased, anyone that might have been standing up would then need a chair. Any chair provided for an individual that begins playing the game would therefore be vacant during gameplay. Therefore, chairs and game targets are alternately necessary. Using a game target is in the alternative to a chair and vice-versa. Certainly, both could be provided. However, providing both chair and target requires undertaking the burdens of carrying the weight of both, and providing sufficient space in a vehicle for both, if carried in a vehicle. The space limitation is significant in the likely scenario of the additional chairs for attendees that will be present but not playing the game. It is the nature of playing cornhole as a part of an event that it will need to be provided space alongside other space-consuming objects, like chairs. While any single cornhole target is likely to be only modestly heavy and conveniently shaped for carry for individuals with two arms to commit to the task, it becomes dramatically more difficult to handle when said individual also must carry another object.
The prior art includes throwing targets that attempt to address the size and weight and shape limitations of a cornhole board by compromising the cornhole board. In most variations, the dimensions are significantly changed, and often the gameplay is negatively affected by the space saving features. One corruption of the continuous surface of a typical cornhole throwing target would be dividing the playing surface up the face of the board, along its length, with a hinge, as seen in published application “Portable bean bag toss game (Nally, 2014/0091526).”
A common example of a successful throw is one which lands on the middle of the board and has enough velocity to slide up the middle of the board, into the hole. A hinge running up the middle of the board negatively affects the throw, and denies reward to a performance that is generally capable of obtaining a goal on an uncompromised target. More detrimental to the desire to use such a target to play cornhole, or any other bean bag toss game, is not the corruption of the play caused by a feature that corrupts the playing surface, but the fact that the detrimental feature is not present in other cornhole targets. If the game target varies, the appeal of carryover skill or other familiarity-related appeal is not available, and fewer people have interest in playing the game. A high priority to an improvement in providing the target is to not compromise the target's conformance to common gameplay.
Taken in sum, the inventor recognized a general need to decrease the overall burden of providing cumulative objects to an event in which cornhole might be played, rather than alter a cornhole target's gameplay parameters. The decrease in the quantity of objects decreases the cumulative burden frequently present in any event in which cornhole might be provided. Folding chairs are one object carried that are only necessary during periods, when gameplay is not occurring. Therefore, combination of the two objects, the target and a chair, decreases the quantity of objects, wherein such combination sufficiently performs the ability to alternately provide an acceptable chair or an acceptable cornhole target.
The invention, as disclosed in the summary of the invention, and the detailed description of the invention, and as claimed, addresses the problem of reducing the burden of providing a throwing target. It provides, in a single apparatus, both an acceptable chair and an acceptable cornhole target, in the alternative.